Valley of the Shadow
by SheWhomLaughsLast
Summary: Sequel to All Fall Down.  full summary inside  Kat and Alex, taking care of Alicia, suddenly go AWAL from Division in their quest to find the man who took their birthright. But, will the grieving Nikita be their next target? Or their only hope?
1. Chapter 1

**After discovering Nikita's betrayal, Alexandra and her cousin Katrina become free agents in their mission to find the man who took their birth right, while caring for Kat's half-sister and Alex's baby cousin, Alicia. Unexpected friends and enemies are everywhere. But, when the Udinovs, the most elite killing force Division had ever seen, suddenly go AWAL, the woman who betrayed them may be their next target. **

**Or could the grieving Nikita be the only one who can help them?**

**Chapter One**

**Prologue**

_**Nikita**_

I answered my phone without thinking. "Hello?" I snarled into the receiver, watching as Michael left in the car. We'd gotten into a fight, he wanted to jump into saving the world, I wanted to work on the Udinov situation. Maybe it was stupid that I still had hope. But Alex and Katrina had to know that they couldn't trust Amanda or Division. If they didn't, I'd have to beat it through their thick skulls and let them think it over long and hard.

"Nikita." My blood froze in my veins.

"Amanda?"

"Long time no talk."

"How did you get this number?"

"Now's not the time to ask those kinds of questions. You know I wouldn't be calling if it wasn't something I couldn't handle on my own."

"Then what do you want?" she sighed heavily

"Our two favourite girls have disappeared." I couldn't help but smirk.

"So they finally came to their senses and decided to dump you on the curb." There was silence for a moment, an agonizing moment, but a moment.

"Let's not start throwing the backhanded comments around." She cleared her throat. "the dynamic duo have left indications that they are heading after you."

"After me? Or after the box?"

"Unfortunately, we have no reason to assume the box is their priority at the moment. They've been playing us from the beginning. Turns out, they were the ones using us instead. Over the years, I've found that the Udinov women are very acute to those around them. The sense something amiss or disloyalty and they will react accordingly."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, trying to figure out Amanda's angle.

"Because, Nikita, while they have a good sense of character, they are also very much like wild dogs. They smelled betrayal from my higher ups before I did and they decided to take off. But not without strategy. Now, they've set their mark on you instead. They'll come after you hard and fast and try their best to get you alone. The thing is, we don't know if they're coming to take you out, or if they're coming to get your help."

"If you're trying to get me to tell you if they show up here—"

"I'm trying to give you a heads up." That caught me off guard. Why the hell did Amanda care if Alex and Kat were coming to rip me to pieces? "The Udinovs are a loyal pack but they will switch sides if their cause demands it."

"I'm listening."

"Whether they will admit it or not, Alexandra and Katrina trust you and care for you far more than anyone else. They don't want you dead. My bets are that they need your help. If they need your help, it means that something big is coming their way. Something that scares them."

"This doesn't sound like a regulation call." And, once again, I was met with silence. A very long, very drawn out silence.

"It isn't." and, with that, she hung up on me. I lowered the phone from my ear and placed it down on the bed. Alex and Kat were in trouble.

They were probably coming for me.

Was it wrong that I was thankful? That I was glad that the two girls who'd meant so much to me were coming back? That they may have wanted to kill me and I just didn't care?

The door opened behind me. I'd fully expected Kat or Alex. I made no move to look behind me. "I know what you're here for" I said, "and I'll help you. I'm just glad you left division behind." There was no answer, no sound of footsteps. "Alex? Kat?" I turned to check if the door was pushed open by the wind, just in time for a needle to be shoved into my neck and fluid to flood my veins. I gasped and grasped at the arm, my vision blurring before I could see their face. I couldn't move, I couldn't fight them off. They let go and I fell to the ground.

And suddenly, I was soaring through the sky, my mind fogged with cobwebs and clouds, a feeling I wasn't a stranger to. A feeling that I was sure would scare me soon enough, one I never wanted to feel again.

I flew like a kite.

**Ooooo whoooo! Yay!**

**But now, straight to business. This relationship has to be give and take. I give you a chapter, you give me reviews or I sit, staring at my email all day like a psycho waiting for my notifications and lacking the kick in the ass to get me going. In reality, that's a major reason as to why there are updates in the first place. Because, after a period of time, I will get reviews which are pretty much people beating up on me and telling me to hurry the hell up, thus, spurring me on to write more.**

**Besides, every time you review, I giggle like a giddy school girl.**


	2. So We Meet Again

**So, you know when you get a kinder surprise thing with the toy inside? And someone else makes it even better by giving you their toy? Here I am, sick as a dog, giving you my toy. I hope you like it.**

**Chapter 2**

_**Alexandra**_

"Look at you go!" I said, unable to keep the smile off my face as the toddler stumbled across the floor towards me, her sister rooting her on from across the room. "Go, Ali, go!" Her face was pressed into a firm look of concentration, like it took all her brain power to push one foot in front of the other, her entire body giggling as she picked up speed. The room was warmly lit, a tiny Christmas tree in the corner and multicoloured lights glowing softly around the soft tan walls, reflecting off the hardwood flooring. The snow fell steadily outside, adding an almost hallmark look to the place. It was warm at least, the large space kept warm by multiple heaters. Alicia was decked out in a black baby sweater with matching pants and oddly bright pink socks. What little hair she had was pulled up into a mini mohawk. I kneeled down on the ground, tossing my bag off to the side somewhere and held my arms out to my baby cousin. She made little grunts as she pushed herself faster and then threw herself into my lap.

"And it's good!" Kat threw her hands up in the air, making a goal post. I rolled my eyes and looked down at Alicia, whose pudgy cheeks poofed with the huge grin she gave me. "We've been working on it all day long."

"Well, I think it's a fantastic achievement." I lifted Alicia into the air and gently moved her back and forth, making airplane noises. "And I think we're not letting your big sister dress you anymore. Or do your hair." I gently tugged at the almost black strands sprouting from the toddler's head.

"I think she looks rather dashing."

"You also think that zombies could beat vampires so let's not even go there, shall we?"

"They totally could. An endless mass of flesh hungry, unstoppable creatures versus a weird shiny thing? Come on."

"I meant the kind of vampires with claws and rows of needle sharp teeth, not the pedophiles who prey on bland teenage girls." I stood up with Alicia in my arms "you think I'm right, don't you Ali?" She giggled and grabbed my nose. I smiled and kissed the palm of her hand.

"Speaking of needles," Kat said, picking herself up off the ground and glancing at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. "It's about that time." I sighed and looked at her then back to Alicia.

"Your sister is really starting to like stabbing me in the back every day, yes she is, yes she is." Kat rolled her eyes and walked towards the fridge. I moved towards the bed area, or to be more exact, the large, king sized bed that sat in the far corner of the room one giant room. I sat Alicia down in the middle of it and handed her the stuffed bat she'd come to love so much, and then watched her gnaw on its head. "You know, Alicia." I said, taking off my jacket and tossing it on the couch. "I'm really starting to get concerned." She took a second from biting the poor mammal's head and flashed me her signature 'I'm a fat, adorable baby so you have no choice but to melt at my pudgy cheeks and tiny-toothed smile' grin.

I unbuttoned my blouse and waited for Kat. She came back with a little metal box and a syringe in her mouth. Carefully, she sat down on the bed and opened the case. Inside were fifteen tiny bottles of clear liquid, the glass fogging up after being exposed to the warm air. Kat stuck the needle's tip into the lid and pulled back on the plunger. When it had been filled enough she closed the case, locked it and put it on the ground. "Alright." She said, pushing herself back further on the bed and patting her lap "You're up Ms. Blood Suckers are better than Flesh Munchers." I tossed my blouse with my jacket and, in my pants and bra, laid my torso across her knees, face resting on the pillow she placed on her other side at the last second. "You know," she said, pushing my hair away from my shoulder blades and to either side of my neck "If you weren't you, meaning both my cousin _and _someone cursed with the thought that vampires are a supreme creature, this might actually be considered romantic." I felt her finger pull on my skin, trying to find the right spot.

Now, I know where your mind's going, and believe me, Kat was not actually suggesting incest. She did this to distract me from what was coming, making weird, inappropriate comments just happened to be her method of distraction.

"You know what _I _think?" I started, turning my head so I couldn't see what she was doing. She sighed.

"No, but I'm sure you'll tell me."

"I think we need to find you a honey."

"Ew, vomit, you did not just say that."

"Oh, I did. And I'm sure it wouldn't be impossible. You're not completely hideous."

"Well, thanks. And if you're thinking about pimping me out, you can dream on."

"Oh, come on, it's only pimping if I make money off of you and you're my bitch. Seeing as I'm not making any money, I think it's safely out of the pimping category."

"Oh hardy-har-har. I get it, I'm your bitch. Funny. Well, when someone needs a needle stabbed into their back tomorrow, we'll find out who is whose bitch." The needle pierced my skin and entered my spine quickly, agonizingly. I twisted my fingers in the bed spread and forced myself to breathe.

The disease, as it turned out, was incurable at the moment. The serum that should've cured it couldn't due to the happy fact that the disease, or whatever the hell it was, had mutated all on its own. It had gotten better when Amanda first injected me with the 'cure' but had gotten worse again when the day had passed. And so, since two or three months ago, Katrina had been injecting the stuff into my spine once in the morning and once in the evening. The pain never got any better, but it didn't get any worse either. I figured it was a bit of a lose win thing and just took it like a champ, for the most part at least.

When the needle came out, I relaxed again but made no effort to move. I needed some time to recover, Kit understood that. So, instead, she draped a light throw blanket over my back to cover me up a little. "So, how much further did you get on tracing the box?" She asked and I shook my head

"I haven't been trying much; Amanda's got some weird guy from Oversight tracking my every move. It's like having a paranoid baby-sitter except he never goes away."

"What'd you bring back for dinner?"

"I stopped by some health food store and got some pre-made healthy stuff for us and some of that puree pea and turkey stuff Ali likes so much." After several failed attempts at making something edible ourselves, we'd just settled on buying things like those pre-cooked chicken dinners you can find at the supermarket and frozen pizzas. It worked better than trying to decide if the black stuff on our plates was eatable or if _it_ was planning on eating _us_.

We all sat cross legged on the floor, Kitty and I eating some kind of salad with chicken and carrots in it while I was trying to get most of Alicia's food in her mouth instead of on her face. I ruffled her hair gently as she rolled on her back, her pudgy fingers grasping her toes. We didn't have a TV or any real kind of entertainment, so we mostly just played card games or talked about stuff we didn't talk about with anyone else; like our childhoods and what we would do once we got Zedtrov back. This was my family. This was something I hadn't had in a long time. Someone I could say anything to and not feel like I was being judged. It was great.

There was just one piece to the puzzle missing.

My pocket vibrated and I pulled out my phone, a text. "Amanda wants to see us; we have to get to Division right away." She sighed and scooped up Alicia.

"Just when I was starting to get comfortable."

_**Nikita**_

I saw her when I neared the club. I stopped dead in my tracks. There was supposedly another of Percy's cash deposits there, money that Michael and I needed to pay for our equipment. If Alex was here already, that means Division saw me coming before I knew I was going there. It was a shady joint, built in some warehouse in the downtown area. She was obviously having trouble getting inside, so I decided to do something about it, it'd give me a good in to talk to her, try and explain. I walked up and made sure I caught the attention of the bouncer before plastering on a seductive smirk and wrapping my arms around Alex from behind. She tensed, automatically and I kissed her cheek, putting on a bit of a show for the doorman, I could feel the pistol hidden under her jacket and covered it with my hand, almost threateningly. "Hey, baby." I said softly, "sorry I'm late, traffic was absolute hell." She said nothing, nor did she respond. "If you want to get inside this damn club" I hissed in her ear, trying to make it look like some sort of sweet nothings "you'd better play along."

"Or what? You'll shoot me?"

"Something like that." I threatened and saw her smirk.

"Don't worry about being late, _darling_." The words were like she was spitting out sand, but at least she was saying them. If Alex couldn't get in on her own, my chances were slim to none as well. She was my ticket in, she just hadn't realised it yet. "I was just having some trouble getting inside this fine establishment." Sarcasm dripped from her words. I looked at the bouncer and gave him my sweet and innocent look.

"Oh, really? Well, um, Mr…"

"Jason, Jason Flint." He said, his eyes practically leaving a slime trail all over our bodies. He looked like some kind of greaser from the eighties, hair slicked back and a leather jacket. I shuddered internally.

"Could you please just let us in? We're supposed to be meeting with our friends." He seemed to consider it for a moment and then stepped out of our way. I gave him a smile and let Alex lead the way inside. The place was dark, strobe lights flickering and heavy bass music pounding through the speakers. When we were clear of his view she shoved me away and wiped her cheek vigorously.

"What the hell is the matter with you!" she glared at me, fire lighting in her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, would you have rather sat out there trying to convince some slime ball pervert to let you in? Or was my way a little too touchy for you?"

"I didn't come here for you, Nikita." She snapped, looking around. She took a step back and I grabbed her arm tightly. She looked at me and tried to wrench her arm free, but I twisted it behind her back. "Let me go!" she snarled and Pulled her back into me, using my free hand to restrain her other arm.

"Why are you here, Alex?"

"None of your damn business!"

"They told you a lot of things, but what they didn't tell you was my side of the story!"

"There is no side to your story! You killed my father and lied to me about it! That's enough for me." she tried to hook my leg with her ankle and pull it out from under me, but, instead, I slammed her into the bar.

Fine. If she wasn't going to listen, maybe I'd just have to beat some sense into her. My hand found her gun and pulled it out of her holster, quickly pulling it on her, concealing it within her own jacket. "Now, you're going to listen, Alex." I said in her ear once she'd stopped struggling. "You don't understand the first thing about what happened that night." I growled, leading her to a booth on the far end of the club. I sat her down and sat in the chair at the outside of the table, gun trained on her under the table.

"You and Michael came in and killed my family. What else is there to know?"

"We didn't kill your entire family, Alex."

"Too bad for you." The cold muzzle of a gun pressed against the back of my neck. "Hiya, Auntie Niki." Kat's voice sliced through my train of thought, catching me off guard. "Fancy meeting you here." Alex peered over my head at her cousin, a look of relief and sudden calm chasing away the frustration. "Why don't we just give the gun back to the pretty lady? Huh, Nikita?" I slowly raised the gun and laid it down on the table, sliding it across the smooth surface. "You alright, Al?" Alex nodded, placing her weapon back inside her jacket.

"I didn't expect you most of all, Katrina." I said in an even tone, trying not to say anything that could set her off. "What with the job Michael did on your shoulder." The gun pressed harder and I winced.

"Yeah, well, Michael-boy managed to dislodge part of my shoulder blade. But don't worry too much; they put in a metal plate instead, so I'm more than capable of taking you down a notch or two." I couldn't help but smirk.

"You ego always has been your flaw."

"Try me."

"I think I will." Michael's voice came from behind me, a click of his pistol oddly calming me. "Put down your gun Katrina, before things get ugly." She chuckled but the gun lifted from my neck and clattered to the floor, I looked back just in time to see her raise her hands beside her head, her eyes lined with dark makeup, hair gelled so straight it looked like she was flying. There was an odd underlying beauty to her now though, like she was all grown up though it had only been two months since I last saw her. But, mixed in with that beauty, was danger. This girl was not the same one I'd left on the floor of Division weeks ago. This girl was hard. This girl was angry. This girl wasn't someone who should be messed with.

This girl looked a whole lot like Amanda.

A cold feeling swept down my spine.

"Now, now Michael." Kat said, turning around to face him. "You wouldn't cause a scene by knocking a girl out in front of a room full of people, now would you?" She casted a side long glance towards the gyrating mass on the dance floor. And, when his eyes flickered to the side, Kat planted her boot against his chest and kicked him over the railing that separated the eating area from the club. He flipped over and landed awkwardly on his side. I stood up quickly and caught the elbow that was thrown back in my direction, twisting Kat around and flipping her onto the table, her back contacting with a solid thud. She coughed and rolled from side to side, groaning. It'd been far too easy to take her down, someone with that kind of look in their eyes would've been a challenge to immobilize. I moved my eyes to where Alex had been not a moment ago and found nothing. Quickly, I turned back to the main floor of the club but couldn't find her either.

Kat's interruption had been a distraction. Whatever Alex was here for was important enough that Kat would allow me to kick her ass so her cousin could get it. I turned back to the table and Katrina was gone. With a breathless glance from Michael that told me he didn't know where they'd gone, I slammed my fist on the table.

"Son of a bitch."

**Reviews make the world go 'round. Or something like that.**


	3. Some Wounds Never Heal

**Alright, since I wrote that thing about how I strongly dislike Mikita I've had a slight change of heart. I'm not fan girl crazy, but I have to admit they **_**are **_**kind of cute together.**

**Chapter 3**

_**Nikita**_

"What'd you get?" Michael asked, turning to me as I walked back into the motel room, a bag full of Percy's cash slung over my shoulder. I tossed the bag at his feet.

"About two thousand and a whole lot of questions."

"Questions?" he inquired, dumping the money on the table and counting it out quickly. "Questions about what?" I sat down on the bed and pulled off my heels. He looked at me, his face softening when he realized what I was talking about. "Are you ok?" I put my head in my hands and thought for a second. After having such a traumatic departure and then to meet so briefly only to lose her again was causing a fair bit of confusion on my part. I had held in, even in a hostile situation, and felt Alex there, felt her breathing, felt her hair against my face and body tense when she realized it was me, yet it wasn't Alex at all, not the Alex I knew. The girl who felt like she was a part of me. It was like losing half my body when Alex and Katrina both left my life in a flurry of flying fists and angry words. And, just briefly in that moment had I felt like there was hope.

And then that hope had been ripped away.

"Physically, yes." I said, looking up at him. He sighed and sat the stack of money in hands down, then got up and joined me on the bed. "I don't get it, Michael, I had her with me for years, both her and kat…and the next second…" He rubbed my back gently.

"I know the feeling, Nikita" I knew he was talking about his family, about his wife and baby girl who were killed when a bomb exploded in the car they were in, one that Michael had later discovered was meant for himself, a gift from Division. "But you have to let them go. They're out for blood. No one's safe until they've gotten it."

"How do I let them go, Michael?" I asked, looking at him, seeing the helpless expression on his face as he realized there was nothing that could sooth the pain I had festering like an infected wound in my heart. "Alex looked so torn between two things, like she was two people trapped in the body of one girl. And Kat, I held her in my arms when she was just a newborn. I looked down into her big blue eyes and she was so pure and so untouched by the world, it gave me hope that there was more to life than what I'd seen…and now…"

"Now they're gone."

"And I don't know what I'm fighting for anymore." He sighed remorsefully and gently pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me and cradling my head to his chest, gently stroking my hair.

"You're fighting for a better world, Nikita." He said softly. I gripping his torso tightly and let myself feel comforted by him. I would find a way to get Alex and Kat back; I'd find a way to save them from themselves. I owed them that much.

_**Katrina**_

"Hey Kit." Alex said, striding into the art studio we'd bought as our hideout. Alicia was in my lap as I sat cross legged on the floor with her, plucking a multitude of stickers from her face. "Ali find the sticker book again?" I nodded, peeling the fifth teddy bear from her nose and sticking it on the news paper in front of me.

"We'd better keep an eye on this one, next thing you know she'll be getting tattoos and dating some biker named 'Axe' who wears a 'if you're reading this the bitch fell off' shirt." Alex smiled gently, assisting in the cleansing. "How's your arm?" I asked "Nikita certainly twisted it into a bit of a pretzel." I poked the bruise on the side of her head and she winced, slapping my hand away.

"I'm fine. What about you?" she asked, poking me in the forehead. "Nikita sure flipped you like a flap-jack."

"Little bruising, maybe. Not too bad. I'm just glad our Houdini act worked out, something tells me she would've found a way to make me tell her where you went."

"She wouldn't have hurt you too terribly, you know that." A sudden silence swept over us both. Even Alicia's disgruntled cooing quieted.

"How are you?" I asked, this time not talking about her physical state.

"I'm fine." She growled and I met her hard gaze evenly

"You can't keep shrugging her off."

"I'm not." Nikita had become a bit of a touchy subject since the incident. Every time she was mentioned, Alex would shut down or pick a fight, one that usually ended in bloodshed or one of us storming out of the room. True, what Nikita had done to me, not telling me that Amanda was my mom, wasn't as bad as killing Alex's father and not telling her, but if Alex didn't talk about it sooner or later, she'd burst.

And I don't know if you've ever tried it, but cleaning up after an angry Russian exploded is really hard.

Really, really hard.

"Alex, you want to talk about it. I know you do."

"You don't know anything about me." I set Alicia down and handed her her bat.

"Bullshit." I snapped, following her as she turned towards the kitchen. "You're the one who wanted to be all sisterly and crap. So here you have it." I slapped my hand on the counter "We're being sisterly."

"Nikita is an off limits topic."

"Nothing is off limits within these walls; you know that as well as I do."

"Then I'll leave." I grabbed her arm as she moved to the door, her muscles tensing under her my hand. We stared at each other for a long while, each of us waiting for the other to make the first move. I didn't like hostility, especially not with Alex. She _was_ the older sister I never had. Her and I were closer than any relationship I'd had before. I told her everything, she told me everything.

So, instead of hitting her, I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and felt her relax instantly, her arms winding around my waist. I sighed as the tension eased. "I'm sorry." I murmured. "I'm just worried." She nodded on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry too. I'm just…not ready to talk about it yet."

"Alright, Al." I said as we parted, "but as soon as you are ready…" I plucked an apple from the counter. "I'm here for you." I bit into the red skin "Now," I mumbled around a mouthful "Strip to your skivvies and let's stab you in the back again."

+/+\+

Alex was on the right side of the bed with me on the left, Alicia in the middle, still gnawing on her flying rodent. "If you could be an animal…" I mused "what animal would you be, and why?"

"I'd be a wolf." She murmured reading some ancient novel she found at a book store a week back. I looked up at her from my hand held video game.

"Wow, way to be original." She rolled her eyes.

"Alright then, what would you be all masterful one?"

"Easy." I said, turning back to my game "I'd be a platypus." From the corner of my eye I saw her eyebrow cock.

"A platypus?"

"Yup."

"Why a platypus?"

"Because they're half duck, half beaver."

"And that makes you want to be one?"

"That and they were thought to be a practical joke when they were first found. The scientists thought that someone had sewn together the body parts of a beaver and a duck until they found one that was alive."

"Frankenstein much?"

"Exactly."

She sat her book down and stared up at the ceiling. "You're messed up."

"And you love me for it." She grumbled and rolled over to look at Alicia who was starting to doze off, the bat's head falling out of her mouth slowly.

"She's getting big." Alex mused, tickling the baby's stomach.

"Pretty soon she'll be kicking ass with us." My older cousin smirked.

"Maybe we could start a superhero group when she's old enough."

"Go from the Dynamic Duo to the Tactical Trinity….Yeah, I could dig that." We both rolled back onto our backs.

"So…if you had to be a food" Alex began "What food would you be?"

**Halloween is in threeish days...Reviews Trick or Treat!**

**(P.S. What're you being?)**


	4. Longing for what You never Knew

**CHAPTER FOUR**

_**Amanda**_

"So, Percy." I said, walking around the pathway surrounding his Plexiglas containment cell, the all white surrounding almost blinding. "How're you enjoying you're retirement?"

"That's witty, Amanda." He said sarcastically, "that's surprising from a heartless bitch." I laughed once and shook my head. He was like a kitten that had thought he was a tiger. Once he was shown how easily he could be taken down, he lashed out with clawless paws.

"You brought this on yourself, Percy. You chose to turn Division into a freelance mercenary company; you chose to put the lives of everyone here in danger to further your economic gain and you chose to be a complete and total pompous ass." He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the glass wall behind him.

"It's a shame I hadn't realised what a quick mouth you have when I was in power." I smiled at him, but mentally rolled my eyes. He talked about it like he had been king of something great and wonderful. "I guess you're where Katrina gets hers from." He mused in Russian. My smile faded. "Speaking of which, how is she?"

_I still remembered the confrontation with Michael and Nikita in the training room. I remember watching from my office as the two girls fought their mentors. I remember being in awe at how fluid Katrina's movements were, how precise and elegant she'd been even with one arm bound to her body. _

_I remember thinking how proud of her I was. _

_Then, when Michael had grabbed her and pushed against her damaged shoulder, I found my pistol and stormed out, firing at the ceiling the second I got to the platform looking out over the area. I threatened to shoot Michael right then and there, but I wouldn't have. If I had, he would've dropped Katrina to the ground, damaging her body more than it already was. The threat seemed to be enough and he let her go. _

_Once they were in the elevator, I hurried down to the floor where Alex held her cousin and I scooped my arms under her trembling frame, lifting her without second thought. It had been an instinctual reaction. One that a mother had when they saw their child in agony. Fix the problem, or find someone who can. So, I carried the sixteen year old down the hall, Alex following along behind me, and kicked in the medical room door. The doctor froze and looked at me, shock evident on her face. _

"_Help her." I ordered in my cold voice, carrying in the broke child and laying her down on the bed, her fingers grasping my forearms in pain as I slowly let her go. Alex looked at me, wide eyed and scared and I held composure. _

_Never had anything been harder than that in that moment. _

_I had never been more scared about anything in my entire life than I had been for Katrina in that moment._

_I'd never know what it was like to feel like a mother._

_When I turned to leave, Katrina grasped my hand tightly, tears still streaming from her eyes, low moans coming from her mouth. I stopped and looked at the girl on the bed. My daughter, sitting there in agony as the doctor scrambled for medical supplies._

_I looked down at her as she pulled my hand closed to her body, trying to hide her face in the back of my hand, her body shaking with sobs. _

_I looked at the doctor. _

"_Unless you want to find yourself in a dissolving solution," I said, feeling panic rising in my chest. "I suggest you get your act together now."_

"That is none of your concern, Percy."

"You managed to be pregnant, give birth and _smuggle _an infant out of this base without me realising it. That's something to go down in Ripley's."

"Katrina is not something I'll discuss with you."

"But Amanda, I thought gushing about their children was something all mothers did."

"Not when the man who wants to know was the one who got two bullet holes punched in her and allowed an agent to smash her head against the wall." He huffed and looked away.

"It was purely business."

"As is you being locked up like the monster you are."

"Don't get all high and mighty with me, Amanda." He stood up, finally aggravated enough. He always acted stand-offish once someone was proven superior to him. It was something I noticed since day one of me being here. It only became more evident when I took over Division from him. "You think you're far better than everyone else in this place, and yet you're keeping secrets and exploiting just as much as me or anyone else in here."

"The difference is, Percy," I said, unfazed by his offensive tone. "Being deceitful and manipulative is my job." The intercom buzzed in, interrupting our conversation.

"Amanda, Katrina and Alexandra are here to see you." Percy relaxed back into his cocky façade.

"Better get going." He said, turning back and sitting down on the cot "Wouldn't want to keep Division's birth child waiting."

_**Katrina**_

I carried Ali into Amanda's office. And, before you go all 'KAT! You've lost your mind woman! Bringing a baby into an assassins' hang out is insanity!', we didn't like doing it. But it wasn't like we could just call up a baby sitter and be all 'hey, can you come over here to this abandoned art studio and watch our baby sister while we go visit my mom in Division which just so happens to be a top secret branch of the American government which she runs? No? But why? What if we tip extra? Hello?' see? That doesn't go down so well most times.

Besides, Amanda was always excited when we brought her along. It was like having a free babysitter at all times.

And fine, maybe I was starting to warm up to the horrible hag. I mean, she was my mother. Maybe she didn't raise me herself, but she brought me into this world, apparently did some terrible things to keep me a secret, and managed to get me as far from Division as possible…that's pretty ballsy.

Gotta like a woman like that.

"Hello, girls." Amanda greeted us, striding in behind me. We turned and she smiled once she saw the baby in my arms. "And how are you, Ms. Alicia?" she asked and my sister cooed, reaching for the older woman with a pudgy hand. Amanda slid her hands under mine and lifted her from my arms, holding her carefully.

Maybe this sounds stupid, but seeing Amanda bounce Alicia in her arms and seeing her so happy made me a little jealous.

I remembered my mom holding me when I was a baby, bouncing me like Amanda was doing to Alicia right then, and those were fond memories, don't get me wrong, but, since I'd found out that Amanda was my mother, I'd found myself longing for memories with _her _instead.

Stupid, I know.

But what kind of a mother could Amanda have been to me if things had been different? What if she hadn't been with Division when her and my father were together? What if _she _could've raised me instead?

I loved the woman who raised me, of course, but I kind of wanted to love the woman who made me too. I wanted to be able to share memories with her that didn't involve hospitalizations or guns. Like family thanksgivings or summer vacations. I wanted her to have embarrassing pictures of me when I was a baby doing something stupid and then for her to show them to my partner on my wedding day.

Was it weird that I was sad she didn't?

"You said you wanted to see us, Amanda?" Alex asked and Amanda nodded, hitching the baby on her hip and walking around to her desk, sitting down and typing something into the keyboard, pulling up a screen on the big monitor.

"I have a job I need you both to do." Alex shook her head.

"No, we don't do missions for Division. We're not your puppets." She leaned back in her chair, hitting a key on the key board.

"Actually, this is a mutually beneficial task."

"How so?" Alicia wrapped her hand in Amanda's hair and stuck it in her mouth. Still, Amanda didn't seem to care, or notice.

Grodey.

"You see this man?" She pulled up a screen with the image of a young, good looking guy on it. He had light blonde hair and dark brown eyes, a chiselled jaw and broad shoulders. "His name is Yuri Vazov. He's a weapons dealer, has been for quite a while. He currently is selling his goods to Gogel from US grounds."

"Why should we care?" She tilted her head, looking at Alex through narrowed eyes as Alicia played with the multi-coloured plastic keys Amanda bought for her, shoving them in her mouth as per usual.

"Zetrov is in control of Gogel. The stronger Gogel is, the harder it will be for the two of you to take back Zetrov." I nodded stiffly, looking at the man on the screen. "Take him out, you take out the main source to Gogel's weaponry, crippling their defenses."

"Then Zetrov will be ours for the taking." Alex looked at me and I looked at her, knowing exactly what we were going to do.

"One step closer to your empire." Amanda mused, "Now, the cache is yours to use, take all the weapons and ammunition you need. A car will be waiting for you." We both made our way over to the toddler and kissed her head, telling her we'd be back in a little while. She smiled at us. As we turned towards the door, she stopped us. "Girls, be careful."

I smiled.

**Well…hi…**

**Sorry I took so long. I got all caught up in another fic and then Nanowrimo hit and then my dad (who also happens to be my softball coach) got all "let's turn softball practice into Nazi Germany and I get to be Hitler!" (I'm Austrian, I'm allowed to make those comments…) and proceeded to make me practice three times a week for two hours thus completely wiping out my energy.**

**Basically, sorry I was gone, but I'm back now.**

**Reviews will make me dance like a fool without pants…sorry, had to do it. it rhymed.**

**Ish.**


	5. Friends in Strange Places

**CHAPTER FIVE**

_**Alex**_

Kit and I were sparing in the training room. It was midday, so it was swarming with recruits. They didn't even bother to hide their leering. They just stared at us like we were things of legends or something. The Udinovs, actually alive after years of the world thinking we were all dead. Kat and I planned to head out tomorrow, she said she was working on something to make missions a little easier for me. But she refused to tell me what it was.

"Come on! You can't tell me something like that and not tell me what it is!" I complained, dodging a punch she threw towards my face. I spun around to swipe out her feet but she jumped it just before.

"I do believe I just did." She stuck her tongue out at me before lurching out of the way of my fist heading right for her cheeky mouth. I landed a punch to her gut as she raspberried me and then took her down to the mat. She wheezed as the air rushed from her lungs. "Goddamn." She croaked, rolling onto her side as I stood up.

"Tell me." I demanded, knocking her onto her back again putting my foot on her chest.

"You're an asshole."

"Tell me!"

"I can't with your foot crushing my lungs…!" I lifted my foot and she kicked my other one out from under me, sending me to the ground next to her. She leapt to her feet quickly, brushing herself off. I glared up at the seventeen-year-old.

"Cheater."

"All is fair in love and war, Cousin." She extended her hand to me and I took it, yanking hard enough to make her stagger as I pulled myself to my feet. "Poor sport." She muttered and I rolled my eyes. "I'll tell you at home. But I don't want to get your hopes up. There's no guarantee it'll work."

We left for home about an hour or so later. The entire way we were playing the 'Keep guessing until Kit slaps me' game. Luckily, we made it back to the studio _before_ she slapped me.

She lead me directly to her work station, which was actually just some crappy table we found sitting outside someone's house with a 'free' sign taped to it, after Alicia was asleep. On the table now sat monitors and a laptop along with random bits of wire, screws and diagrams that looked like hieroglyphics. However, now in the centre of the table was an insulin pump. I stared at it blankly. "Ta da." Kat muttered with obvious distain.

"Um, Kit, I don't have diabetes." She gasped in fake surprise.

"Really? My god! What a relief!" she rolled her eyes "no shit, Sherlock."

"Then why is there an insulin pump on the table?"

"Because it _was _an insulin pump. Now, it's a 'Cure Pump'."

"Um…okay? So what, this is your newest invention?"

"Sort of. The purpose of insulin pumps is to release insulin into the body the way the body normally would. Since the Cure is not something your body naturally makes because, well, it's not something found in the human body, I've repurposed the pump to slowly leak the cure into your body just enough to let you function."

"But don't the pumps have to be tubed into your body? I mean, having the tube in my spine doesn't sound like a fun experience."

"That, my dear, dear dim cousin, is the brilliance of it all. The tube wouldn't have to be in your spine. We inject it there directly so your body can slowly leak it out into the rest of you as it creates new blood cells. With a pump, you wouldn't have to stop for injections while out on a mission because the cure would be flowing through with your blood. You could probably go for a day or two without having to lay half naked on my lap."

"So I would wear this all the time?" She scratched the back of her neck.

"Not all the time, no. It has its limitations; maximum dosage capacity, battery life, that sorta thing. It would work for short missions where you'll be off for maybe two days. Also, with a cure being injected right into your blood stream, its not as effective as it being _inside _the blood cells themselves. Which means you'll start to get symptomatic again. And when you get symptomatic—"

"I know, I know. I'm all psycho hallucinating 'I can't feel my legs' girl."

"and you could die." There was a serious glint in her eyes that told me not to make a joke. "I'm serious, Al. This is why I didn't want to tell you about it, it's still a prototype. I don't know if it works and I can't test it because you're the only one in the entire world who has this virus."

"I could see how that could be…problematic."

"Another thing. Seeing as I'm not a doctor, we need to find one to wire you up with this thing. And, since we need someone who won't ask questions, it'll have to be one of the Division doctors." I rubbed my forehead.

"Great. Division, being allowed to stick things into me. Just fantastic."

"Don't worry." She said, leaning back against the desk. "They wouldn't screw with my cousin with Amanda watching." I looked at her for a moment, at the confident gleam in her eyes. I had the sinking feeling Kat was starting to get a little too fond of her new found 'Mommy'. "What?" she asked after a few moments.

"Nothing, nothing." I said, shooting a glance at the pump. "It's just that you seem to be relying a little too much on Amanda now a days."

"She's my mother, Alex." Her tone was slowly becoming defensive. "Why shouldn't I trust her?"

"She's not just your mother, Katrina. She a manipulative, conniving secret agent who is way more dangerous than anyone else I've ever met, and I've met some messed up people. She is a dangerous woman first, being your mother is just a minor detail."

"That woman gave birth to me, Alex. She gave me life!"

"What about Alicia? Huh? The woman who raised you. The woman who didn't ask any questions when a baby was brought to her door in the middle of the night? The woman who loved you unconditionally!?" She stood up, fists clenched by her side. I felt my own anger bubbling.

"What's your damage, Alex?" she demanded in Russian.

"My 'damage' is that your seeming trust of Division seems to be clouding your judgement!"

"No, I think you're just upset that your 'great sensei' Nikita wasn't as great as you thought."

"Shut up Kat." I snapped. I'd made it clear before that Nikita was a no go zone. My frustration and anger was being turned up to the boiling point. This conversation was jumping all over the place. Though it wasn't completely surprising; we were both hurt, both angry. And now we just wanted to hurt each other more.

"You were so screwed up with hero worship that you couldn't see the truth. You stood side by side with the woman who killed your father and betrayed our fam—"

She was on the ground before I realized what had happened. Her hands were glued to her face, my knuckles aching from where they made contact. She looked up at me in shock, the same way I stared at her. Smudges of blood showed from under her fingers. She pulled her hand away, blood oozing from her nostrils and down her forearm.

Oh. My. God.

I just slugged my own cousin.

I punched the only ally I had right in the nose and made her bleed. What the hell is wrong with me?

"you…you punched me?"

"Oh my God, Kat, I'm so sorry!" I reached out to pick her from the ground and she slapped my hand away.

"You punched me!" She yelled, pushing herself to her feet. She walked over to the sink, spitting out blood and washing her hands.

"Kat, I didn't mean to—I mean, I didn't know—"

"Just leave it, Alex." She snarled before swishing her mouth out. She turned off the tap and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and leaning forwards. "We both need to cool off." She murmured in a slightly nasally tone. "Go take a walk. I would, but now I'm all bloody." I hesitated just a second longer before grabbing my coat and walking towards the door.

_**Nikita**_

"And I'm in." Birkhoff chimed as he hacked into Division's network. I paced anxiously in the background. Michael watched me with a careful gaze, burning a hole in the back of my head.

Since my encounter with the Udinovs, I'd been anxious, rowdy even. Those girls were not my girls. They were murderers, cold blooded assassins whom were focused on a single target and would stop at nothing. Not until they got what they wanted. Michael had told me to forget about them, that it would be better for everyone if I just let them go and moved on. That, once they got what they were gunning for, they would come back. He thought I was obsessing.

Maybe I was.

But my concern for them wasn't going to side track my own mission. But keeping tabs on a duo so dangerous wouldn't be a bad use of Birkhoff's nerdy talents. Partially so I would be able to intervene should they dig themselves too deep, not to mention so I could avoid them until such an instance arose. "Looks like Amanda's got your girls doing some dirty work."

"What?"

"Says here that Alex, under the watchful eye of Katrina, is being deployed into the most southern side of the state, going after a weapons dealer for Gogol."

"Makes sense. They take down the weapons dealer, weaken Gogol, weaken Zetrov defenses." 

"Great for them, but what importance is that for us? I thought we were going after Division."

"We are. But if Kit and Alex believe their only way to getting control of Zetrov is through Division, they'll do whatever it takes to protect it, especially with Amanda being there." I looked at my lover with an easy gaze, unaffected by his hesitant one.

"You really think Katrina will protect Amanda?" Michael asked and I looked back at him, trying to keep my own emotions in check.

"Kat has a sense of loyalty and protectiveness that I've never seen before. After finding out all of Amanda's secrets, I think she'll slaughter masses to keep her mother dearest safe."

"Not that Amanda would need protecting." Birkhoff shuddered. "That woman could take on you and Mikey at once and not even break a sweat."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." I muttered, ruffling his hair as I passed him by. "Anyway, now that we know exactly where they're going to be, we know exactly how to avoid them."

"Do you really think it's a good idea to be hitting another one of Division's strongholds so quickly?" Michael asked and I looked over my shoulder at him before sighing; I'd really hoped to avoid another fight.

I turned to face him, grabbing my glass of water off the counter. "believe it or not, I'm actually being strategic about this."

"Or do you just want to punish Division for reasons other than being completely evil?"

"Does it really matter?" I countered, taking an offensive stance against him. I was tired of this. Tired of him questioning my motives. Tired of him watching me like a hawk for even the slightest hint of regret. If he wanted to have it out, we'd have it out. Full throttle.

"If your emotions are clouding your head, then yeah."

"Why does it always come back to emotions with you?"

"Because I know what you're feeling right now, and I know it's not easy to deal with this."

"With what?!"

"Losing your family." I felt my eyes begin to sting against my will. I rubbed at them angrily before staring back at Michael.

It had been like this since the run in with the girls. Michael and I couldn't seem to be in the same room as each other without fighting. We couldn't hold a conversation without either of us storming off after an off hand comment slipped out. I loved Michael, really, I did. But there are some things that you don't talk about with anyone. Not even the people you loved.

My relationship with Kat and Alex was one of those things I didn't talk about.

"Stop it, Michael."

"You have to see that your hurt is what's clouding your mind, Nikita. You can't think straight when they're off out of your protection. You want Division to suffer because they took what you loved and turned them into something sick and twisted." He took a step towards me and I stared him in the eyes as the softness in his voice pulled my walls down just a little bit. "You have to let them go, Nikita, not forever." He murmured when I opened my mouth to spit venom at him. "Just until they find whatever it is they're looking for." I took a few slow breaths to relax. I nodded stiffly.

"Okay, okay, Michael."

"If it makes this situation any less tense," Birkhoff started. "Looks like we're not the only ones to have taken an interest in Division's money stashes. He pressed a few keys "Says here that forty thousand dollars was taken from a bank in California three weeks ago. Division didn't withdraw it and we didn't take it so—"

"Someone else wants Percy's money too." He nodded.

"Someone with a strong disliking for anything Division too. In the same area, three agents were neutralized and four more were injured after they tried to stop whoever took their cash."

I looked at Michael, still eyeing me cautiously. "I'm just going to take a nap, try to calm down a little bit." He nodded and gestured with his arm to the bedroom. I took my leave swiftly, shutting the door before proceeding to strip down to my underwear. I pulled back the comforter and slipped into the cool bed, resting my head on the pillow.

It was only a few moments before I drew my knees into my chest and closed my eyes, letting a few tears slip out.

How did this happen?

How can someone who knew where they were going become so lost?

The image of Kitty I had in my mind was so vivid. Her as an infant on that cold night, bundled close to my chest. A bundle of hope and innocence in the arms of a murderer who thought there was nothing else for her. Nothing but doing what I was told. But, looking down into that little girl's eyes, seeing the way she looked at me, not even a day old and yet completely adoring of me. A baby girl loving an awkward, lost misfit.

She gave me hope. She gave me my strength. She gave me the courage to take my stand against Division and save Alex's life that horrible night. She gave me the hope to strike out, to go rogue. She's the one who turned my life around.

And Alex…Alex reminded me everyday why what I was doing was worth it. She was the first good thing I'd ever done. The reminder of all the other recruits in Division I could save, all the other Nikita's down there that were just looking for a way out. A way to break free.

And now, now they were both gone. They both hated me for everything I didn't tell them. They hated me for everything I _should _have told them, but hadn't because I was scared they'd leave me behind.

_Look at you now. _I snarled at myself mentally. _Now you've lost them both anyway. Now you've lost your hope and your drive. What's your plan now, Nikita? What are you going to do?_

_I opened my eyes and found myself sitting in a glass cell. I blinked against the harsh light that blinded me, made my eyes try and force themselves shut. I sat up, looking around stupefied. Where was I? How did I get here? Why was I here?_

_I looked next to me and saw nothing, same as the other side. A brick wall was at my back. Everything, other than the cell I was in, was in total darkness. "Hello?" I called out, starting to feel panic constricting my chest. "Anybody here!" _

_Suddenly, the room in front of me lit up as a door opened. Standing by it was the unmistakeable Percy, a look of anticipation on his face. _

_Out of the door, however, was someone I knew very well._

_It was me. A lot younger, new agent kind of younger, but me all the same. My eyes widened, but I didn't have time to be shocked before they started talking. _

"_You took your time." Percy said in a slightly teasing way. Other me looked like she was in shock, her eyes unfocused, staring off somewhere. _

_I couldn't understand why this felt so familiar. I knew this moment like it was branded into my memory, but I couldn't seem to put my finger on it. Everything was recognizable, from the room behind other me to the clothes I was wearing, but it just was not clicking. _

"_You alright, Nikita?" He asked Other Me who looked at him like a deer in the headlights. He slowly reached for my right arm and lifted it into the light. My brows furrowed. The knuckles on my hand were bloody, the skin torn from hitting something repeatedly with a lot of force again and again and again. The fingers trembled as he examined them carefully. "Ouch." He murmured before I pulled my hand back. "That looks like it hurts." He peered through the open door into the darkness I'd come out of. "Looks like the other guy got it worse, huh?" Other Me swallowed._

"_I…I didn't get the information, Sir, I'm sorry." _

"_not a problem Nikita. You've shown me something more important than what he could have given me." She blinked at him, sweat glistening on her forehead. "you've got a darkness in you, Nikita." She looked like she was about to be sick. "You've got that primal urge, that violent aggression like hunters in the wild. You're not afraid of violence, of pain." He took her wrist again, holding it gently. "That's not a bad thing, Nikita. We've all got that kind of darkness inside of us, you're just one of the few to embrace it rather than run from it. And you can use that to your advantage." I watched as he pulled a pistol out from one side of his suit. He gently placed it in her bruised and bleeding hand. "There are bad people out there, Nikita. Bad people who need to be taken care of." With that, he turned around, walking into the dark room and shutting the door behind him. _

_Other Me stood there, staring at the gun in her hand. She stood there for a long while before the lights went out. The crackle of a speaker broke the painful silence. _

"_Operation Pale Fire is a go!" _

_A spot light whipped around the pure white room, flashing over each cell on either side of me. There was a person in the cell to my left, but the light moved too fast for me to see who they were. The light locked on the other person, illuminating a young girl, panic clear in her eyes. My heart stopped. _

_It was Alex when she was younger. The first time I had seen her._

"_Papa!?" She cried out, scrambling back into the corner of the glass cell. "Papa! Where are you?!" _

"_Alexandra Udinov is in my sights. Moving to eliminate." A light shone on a figure dressed in covert Op. strike gear. The pistol was clenched in its hand as it advanced._

"_Alex!" I yowled, pounding my hands against the glass. She looked at me then back to the masked woman. "Alex! You have to get out of there!"_

"_I can't!" she cried. "There is no door! There is no nothing!" My heart started to hammer in my chest, my mind scrambled for a way to get the girl out of the cell. She was right. There was nothing around us, no seams on the panes of glass, no chairs, no nothing. So I gave up on tactical thought and backed up from the wall before charging forwards and slamming my shoulder into it. The glass shuddered, but didn't give. I backed up and went again, this time leaping forwards after my last stride to drive myself at it with more force. Nothing._

_The agent kept advancing, pistol at the ready. The cell walls that kept Alex trapped sunk into the floor slowly as they approached. _

"_Leave her alone!" I screamed, charging the glass again. "Touch her and I swear I will make you wish you were never born!" When the glass disappeared completely, Alex made a run for it. She maybe got one or two strides in before the figure caught her in one arm and threw her back into the corner. It didn't hesitate to raise the gun as she sprung to her feet and fire one shot straight through her head. _

"_NO!" I screamed as the blood splattered across the window and my legs gave out from under me. The sickening thud of the lifeless body hitting the ground made my stomach clench agonizingly. I thought I was going to throw up. Alex was dead. My partner was dead. Everything I had done to protect her hadn't been enough. I cried, my fingers squeaking against the glass pane as I stared at the limp body of the thirteen year old girl. "I'm sorry Alex…I'm so sorry." I pressed my forehead to the glass, clenching my hair in tight fists. "I'm so sorry." _

_The cough of the gas mask caught my attention._

_I looked up at the Agent, hatred stirring in me like a hurricane. All at once, I launched forwards, shattering the glass barrier like it was antique china. I grabbed them by the front of the vest and slammed my fist across their face hard enough I heard the gas mask glass crack. I tore the protection from their head, revealing a black ski mask underneath, and drove my forehead against theirs. I did it again and again and again before throwing them against the wall and smashing the back of their head into the brick. I blocked the arm they raised feebly to protect themselves and smashed my fist across their face._

_I wanted them dead. I wanted to feel their blood on my hands, look into their eyes as the light faded away. They would suffer for what they did. I would make sure of it. "What did you do!" I demanded. "She was just a child! She did nothing wrong you sick, demented bastard! What did you do!?"They mumbled something and I ripped the fabric mask from their head, throwing it off somewhere. My heart stopped._

_It was me._

_She chuckled weakly, the blood trickling from her nose and mouth, one eye already swelling. Her head lulled to the side as if she was fighting to stay conscious. She smirked before answering me "what you were too weak to." the muzzle of the pistol pressed to my stomach._

_Then the gun went off. _

I shot up in bed, sweat drenching my entire body. I put my face in my hands for a moment before glancing at the clock. It had only been an hour since I'd gone to bed. I swung my legs outside of the mattress and dressed quickly, trying to shake the lingering tendrils of the dream. I thought I was going to be sick. The nightmare had felt so real. My fingers shook as I lifted my shirt from the ground, my body vibrating with adrenaline and shock. Slowly, I lowered myself back down to the bed, clenching the sheets tightly in both hands. I shook my head hard. _Pull it together, Nikita._

I couldn't let the boys see any weakness. If they did, they would wonder if going on a mission was a good idea and I would spend the rest of the day trying to convince them I was fine. The sooner we got the leg up on Division, the better. I cleared my throat and pulled my fingers through my hair.

The door creaked open slowly, Michael peeked his head in. "Oh!" he said, surprised. "You're up. Good. We're heading out, Birkhoff got our location."

"Where're we going?"

"A bank, just an hour or two away. Percy has an account we can get into. We leave soon."

"Great." He paused for a moment, examining me.

"You okay?" I smiled before getting up and walking around him.

"Relax, Michael, paranoia doesn't suit you." My smile disappeared the second I walked by him.

I was going to throw up.

"Where are you goin'?" Birkhoff asked as I grabbed my jacket.

"To get some fresh air."

I walked down the streets until it got dark. The nightmare was still lingering on the edge of my mind. I watched the cars pass by, families, men and women who had no idea of the war raging all around them. They just lived their lives. Normal, happy lives. They didn't know just how lucky they were.

I turned the corner and walked into a small café. It wasn't busy, a couple college students and business men and women. I ordered a cup of coffee and sat down at one of the tables. I watched the news scroll across one of the TVs without really seeing it. I couldn't help but wonder what my girls were doing right then. I fantasized that they were in a large, well furnished apartment. That Kat was constructing some kind of electronic contraption and Alex was reading a story to Alicia. That they were safe, comfortable, and out of dangers way.

But they weren't. I knew that much for sure. But I could let myself have that moment to pretend all was well with the world.

Then I saw her, standing across the street, looking at me the same way I was looking at her.

Her hands were in the pockets of her trench coat, standing under a street light. I sat back in my seat as a weird, almost surreal feeling passed over me. She was there. I could see her now. So close but so far away. She brushed the hair back from her face, her eyes never leaving my own. She looked sullen, upset about something. It made me fidget to know that there was nothing I could do to help her with whatever it was. So, instead, I dipped my head to her almost unnoticeably. She did the same, but a new look of hurt passed across her features.

_I'm sorry I hurt you. _I said in my head _I should have told you the truth from the start. It wasn't fair of me to keep those secrets. I thought if I told you the truth you'd leave. But I lost you anyways and I regret it every second of every day. I just wish we could talk so I could at least tell you that much. So you could know just how much I miss you. _Like she had heard my thoughts, she only waited a moment longer before stepping back into the shadows of the street, disappearing from my view all together. Like she had denied my apology. I bit back the swell of remorse and sipped my coffee. Seeing her had only amplified the guilt I'd been feeling ever since that day in Division. I pinched the bridge of my nose before finishing off my coffee and heading outside the shop, the cool air biting my face the second I opened the door.

+/+\+

Michael and I were outside the bank around midnight, money in tow when a big, black SUV rolled up, seven agents jumping out. _"Guys," _Birkhoff sounded _"Bogies inbound." _

"Nikita! Put the money down!" One demanded, several assault rifles pointed at our heads.

"Shit." Michael said under his breath, raising his hands up and putting them behind his head.

"I figured that out, Nerd. Thanks a lot though." I muttered sarcastically.I slowly put the briefcase on the ground. This was unexpected. They were too far away to take them in hand to hand and their rifles outranked my pistol. I held my breath as they closed in.

"_No, I mean-" _The guy in front of me suddenly had an arrow head popping out of his forehead. He fell dead to the ground, his comrades looking at him just as shocked as we were. _"Did I just see what I think I saw?" _I looked up at the security camera he must've been watching me on.

An arrow whizzed past the next guy, nearly clipping me in the arm. "Where the hell are these arrows coming from?!" Someone yelled, ducking behind a dumpster by a concrete wall. The only place that arrow could have come from was directly across the street. I looked over at the convenience store, just faintly making out the silhouette of someone standing on the roof.

That guy's hiding spot turned out to be a huge mistake as a burly guy dressed completely in black leapt over the wall and landed behind him. The unknown man snapped the agent's neck just as a third arrow nailed another one in the side of the neck. I grabbed the money and threw it towards the bank wall to keep it out of the fight. One agent rushed me, swinging for my head. The hit connected but didn't make me hesitate before I rammed my fist into his nose and then my knee into his gut. I threw him behind me and took on the next guy. Our mysterious ally kicked an agent into the wall before driving a combat knife into his chest. I heard the choking sound of the last agent as Michael strangled him and then dropped his lifeless body to the ground. Michael looked at me, as I stood there, panting from the rushing adrenaline. His eyes widened.

"Nikita! Watch out!" I whirled around just in time to see the guy I threw running at me with a hunting knife. It was too late to react, I knew that much. I threw my hands up to try and defend myself at the same time an arrow became lodged in his forehead. We all watched as he fell to the ground. Michael and I turned to the man in black as he reached up and pulled the mask from his head. My eyes widened.

"Owen!?"

"Hey Nikita. Never a dull moment, eh?" he grinned at me cockily. I heard his ear piece crackle.

"_Wait, wait, wait!" _the voice yelled so loud Owen pulled it out of his ear. _"Did you just say Nikita?!" _I blinked. I recognized that voice.

"Gale?!" I looked up as a blonde woman ran out from behind the convenience store and made a beeline for me at a surprising speed. She leapt through the air, arms and legs wrapping around me, nearly knocking me off my feet.

"Nik! I thought you were dead you crazy woman! I haven't seen you since…" she trailed off. We both knew what she was talking about, she didn't have to finish her sentence. Gale Grant was a fairly petite woman, didn't weigh more than one hundred and thirty pounds, no taller than five nine, but at that speed, I was surprised I could keep my footing at all. I hugged her back, spinning to try and slow down so I didn't fall.

"Gale! You disappeared off the map! I tried to find you after the girls took Alicia back!" I looked over her shoulder at the men who stared at us completely confused. I put her down. "When did you meet up with Owen? _How _did you learn to shoot a bow like that?!"

"Let's just say the US government isn't the only one with secret ops up their sleeves. As for Owen and I…" she trailed off, staring at the blonde man with a kind of affection. "I think we can talk about that somewhere else." She looked around at the bodies. "Somewhere where the police won't find us?" I looped my arm around her shoulder, picking up the suitcase.

"I think we can."

**Guess who's back, back, back. Back again, ain, ain. Shady's back, back, back. Tell a friend, friend, friend.**

**Okay, so I'm not the real slim shady, but yup. It's been a long time. Mostly because of life and then the breaking of yet another laptop, then laziness and obsession with a different fic I was writing. I got bored of writing this, mostly because I didn't know where to take it. But now I've figured it out again so hopefully I write more.**

**I apologize fervently and feel terrible I've been gone so long. So this is on the house.**


	6. Homeward Bound

**Quick refresher for those who may have forgotten; Gale Grant was my RCMP character from 'All Fall Down' that Nikita left Alicia with before going after Alex and Katrina. **

**CHAPTER SIX**

_**Nikita**_

"Sweet pad, Nikita." Gale murmured as we walked into Birkhoff's hideout. She had a duffle bag slung over her shoulder, her compound infrared bow in her other hand. Owen followed close behind her, looking around the same way she was, if not a little more wary.

"I didn't know going rogue could be so…plush." He murmured a little uneasy. Birkhoff came storming out of his tech room, aviators covering his eyes.

"Unfortunately, I can't exactly say this is _our _place."

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Nerd demanded from the indoor overhang, "why would you bring people to our secret hideout?!" I rolled my eyes and his locked on the bow in Gale's hand. His eyes widened and he swallowed nervously. "You? You're the archer who shot those agents?" she looked at her bow.

"Seems that way, doesn't it?" I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Give me a second?" she nodded, turning around to talk to Owen and Michael as I bounded up the stairs to talk to Birkhoff.

"What the hell, Niki?" He asked "We're supposed to be hiding from people. Not bringing in the Super soldier and Hawkeye!" I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Birkhoff, without them we would've been absolutely done for. You saw the way Gale can shoot an arrow! She's a huge asset! Precision like that without making a sound. I've never seen anything like it."

"Where'd she learn to shoot like that, anyway?"

"Apparently she was part of some special tasks force when she was in the military. They upset the UN with their clean killing capabilities so the Canadian government disbanded the group after four years of training and two years of deployment."

"Where's the rest of her kind?"

"A lot of them stayed in the military, she decided to go into policing."

"and it doesn't seem weird to you that you're just finding this out about this chick now? After _how long _of knowing her?" I shrugged, casting a glance down at the main level. Gale had set down her bow and duffle bag and was re-tying her hair again, glancing around the room in slight awe still. I looked back to Birkhoff.

"I wouldn't have told her about myself if she didn't already know about Division. I didn't know about the task force she was in, so I'm not surprised she didn't feel like she should tell me." He glanced around me and down at her. He looked at me again.

"Is she single?" I smiled

"As far as I know."

"Fine, Nikita, keep your strays. For now." He said the last bit as a warning "I don't know how long I can bank roll you, Mikey and me, let alone two other crazies like us."

"Thank you Nerd." I planted a kiss on his cheek and jogged back towards my friends.

+/+\+

I watched from the balcony overlooking the beach as Gale was trying to teach Birkhoff to shoot her bow. They had grabbed an old weapon crate and taped a photo of Percy to it. I couldn't help but smile at how adorably awkward Nerd looked just holding the complex bow. "Okay, just hang on to the handle tightly, but not like you're trying to strangle her." Gale instructed and Birkhoff looked at her.

"Her? You're bow has a gender?"

"It's better to personalize yourself with your equipment; if you care about it, you're more likely to treat it right." He nodded slowly.

"Okay, makes sense, I guess." He pulled back on the string "I'm sorry ma'am" he said to the bow "I know we just met, and I don't mean to put my hands on you so soon, but this other lady says it's right." Gale punched his shoulder playfully and Birkhoff smiled. Michael touched my shoulder, handing me my glass of wine.

"I don't know if this is a good thing, or a gross thing." He murmured, leaning against the railing with me.

"What?"

"The whole 'let's teach Birkhoff to shoot an arrow' thing."

"Gale's the one who insisted to teach him. Besides, if he stays inside for every second of his life he's going to become a machine himself." Michael grunted, sipping his scotch. "Wouldn't it be nice?" I murmured and he looked at me.

"For Birkhoff to become a machine?" I smiled but shook my head.

"No. I mean if this was what it was like after the war was over. If we could all just be like this; just hang around like normal people, not having to learn anymore new skill or kill anyone anymore." He sighed, wrapping one arm around my waist.

"Yeah, yeah it would."

"There's just three people missing from this picture." He kissed my cheek.

"You'll get them back, Nikita. You'll get them back, sooner or later. But we have to stay focused on the task at hand. Alex and her cousins will come home when they're ready." I looked at him, gently stroking his cheek. It was nice being there, with my friends, people I'd known for a long, long time. But at the same time, I had doubt still stirring in my mind.

"What if they're never ready?"

+/+\+

I walked along the roof of the swimming pool, looking for the place Birkhoff told me to plant his satellite tap thing to boost the signal so he could find agents more accurately. I couldn't really say no, as much as I would have liked to. As much as I teased him, missions would be practically impossible without him and that huge brain of his. The night was glimmering with city lights, the moon was looming over head. I found myself stopping just for a moment to look at the lights around me. I never really got the chance for sightseeing when I was on mission. This was kind of nice actually.

Gale offered to come with me, but I told her to stay. It wouldn't take that long and it wasn't something that really took a team effort. Plus, I could use some time alone. Well, mostly alone. "Nerd, where the hell am I supposed to put this thing again?" He sighed

"_There's going to be a satellite dish somewhere on that roof. You just need to put the tap near it enough that the little red light goes on. Then you can come home and babysit the Green Arrow and Captain America."_

"If you're trying to tell me you don't like Gale, I'm flat out calling you a liar."

"_Whatever Niki." _I smirked as I wandered around the roof, searching for the dish. I finally spotted it behind an electrical box. I quickly weaved my way towards it, careful not to trip over wires or run into anything. I set the tap on the support and inched it forwards until the red light turned on. Then, I lifted the bottom, pulled of the cover of the sticky pad and stuck it back down.

"Finally." I muttered, wiping my forehead. "That was a huge pain in the ass."

"While on the subject of 'huge pains in the ass'…" I whirled around, drawing my pistol and pointing it at a tall, dark haired man. His hands were in his pocket, standing not ten feet away from me. "You've become a huge pain in Oversight's ass, Nikita."

"That's what happens when people try to play God." I said, keeping my gun trained on him. "The people rise up and rebel."

"The people?" He asked, looking at me with curiosity. "What people? Who else is working with you Nikita?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." I snapped.

"I would've guessed Alex but she's not one of your allies anymore, now is she?"

"You would know. If you know about Oversight, you sure as hell know about Division. Those two kind of go hand in hand like a pimp and a prostitute." He chuckled.

"I see."

"What do you want?" I demanded, watching him as he got closer. He didn't answer. Instead, he slapped the gun from my hands, sending it clattering to the ground.

I punched him twice across the face before kicking him in the stomach and sending him stumbling back against the skylight overlooking the pool. I rushed him, throwing my fist again. He caught it and drove his knee into my stomach. I whipped my head back, catching him in the nose before I smashed my elbow into his ribcage. He let go and I staggered away from him. He ran at me again and I leapt on top of the electrical box before kicking him square in the jaw and jumping back down again. He turned around to face me again. There was no hesitation as he charged me like a linebacker, catching my torso with his shoulder and pinning me there with one well-muscled arm. My fingers twisted in his black shirt as I tried to pull myself out.

I felt the edge of the skylight hit my heels and a stab of realisation struck me a second before I hit the glass. The glass gave way and we plummeted four stories straight down. Both he and I gave a yelp of surprise. My attacker let go after the first story and I twisted around so I could enter the water smoothly, hopefully not ending up hurting myself even more.

We hit the water with a splash, but that wasn't enough to stall the fight for long. I broke the surface of the water only to be dragged back under by my ankle. I drove the heel of my shoe into his shoulder, trying to break his hold on me. My view was blurred underwater but I could make out his basic shape. I managed to gain freedom just enough so I could pull myself to the shallower water. I couldn't swim away fast enough, he leapt on me from behind, hands wrapping around my throat. I grabbed his forearms, trying to find a way to break his hold.

This was it, I realized. He was going to hold me under and there was nothing I could do about it. How many times did a situation like this have to happen before I would get the upper hand? This guy was big. Bigger than Michael, bigger than Owen. I didn't stand a chance. Not on my own.

Just as the last air in my lungs left my body, a third body hit the water, landing on top of him and forcing me into the bottom of the pool. He reared up, letting me go and giving me the chance to swim to the surface. I coughed and sputtered, floundering for the edge of the pool. My limps felt heavy, barely responding to my orders. My fingers grasped the ledge and I held on, looking back over my shoulder at my assailant. A girl was on his back, boots pressing against his lower back, fingers wrapped under his jaw. He whirled for a moment before throwing himself backwards. They thrashed around in the water for a few moments before he came back up, she hadn't relaxed her grip, even though she looked like a drowned rat. He reached back over his head and grabbed her by the bullet proof vest, chucking her to the other side of the pool.

She yelped as she hit the water, splashing around as she tried to get to the shallower end of the pool again. I heaved myself up and out of the pool, shoving myself to my feet. When her feet touched the ground, she looked at him. His eyes widened.

"Alex?" I blinked, my heart stopping for one dangerous moment.

_Alex?!_

Sure enough, there she stood, pushing her soaking hair from her face. A look of fierce determination locked her features in a stern mask. But I could also see the slight fear in her eyes, the look you got when you realized you just bit off more than you could chew.

"I _knew _you couldn't be trusted!" He didn't hesitate to jump at her again, sending them both shooting into the deep end. I leapt in after them both, grabbing his massive shoulders and trying to wrench him away from her. She pulled a knife from her belt and rammed it through his forearm. Blood spiraled through the water as he gave a gurgling shout and let her go.

He kicked her down deeper into the water and turned around to face me. I drove my fist into his face hard as he struggled for a grip on me. I grabbed his head and used all the force I could muster to snap his neck. He stopped moving as I shot back up to the surface. I reached air and my lung inhaled a greedy breath. I looked around for the brunette.

"Alex?" I called out, looking around. "Alex!" I looked back under the water, seeing her laying at the bottom, unmoving. "_Alex!" _I dove back under, swimming down to her as fast as I could. She wasn't dead. She couldn't be dead. He hadn't done anything that would've killed her. I grabbed her around the waist and pressed my boots to the bottom of the pool, pulling with all the strength I had left to get her off the floor. She lifted and I wrapped my arms around her waist. I pushed off the floor and shot to the surface. My limbs were heavier than before. I could barely support myself, let alone the girl in my arms. Still, I pushed and swam until I reached the shallow end. Forcing myself on, I trudged through the water, towards the edge of the pool.

I let out a loud yowl of exertion as I lifted her out of the water and onto the edge. She laid there motionless as I heaved myself out as well. I pressed my fingers to the side of her neck. A slow, weak heart beat pressed against my fingers. My trembling fingers reached for the ear bud hanging half out of her ear.

"_Alex! Alex can you hear me?!" _I put the bud in my ear.

"Kit" I panted, coughing up a bit of water. "Kit, it's Nikita. Alex is down." I pulled the girl further away from the pool before straddling her, ripping off her Kevlar vest. I laid my ear over her chest, cursing when I didn't hear her lungs expand. I tilted her head up, locking my hands together one over the other. "I'm starting compressions" I laid them over the centre of her chest and started pressing down. "Come on Alex!" I snarled. I grabbed her nose and parted her lips, sealing mine over them and blowing air into her lungs before continuing the compressions.

"_Did she end up in the water?" _She demanded. I didn't bother to ask how she knew that.

"Yes." I said before giving the girl another lungful of air.

"_Stop the compressions!" _She yelped. My hands left her immediately. _"Lift up the bottom of her shirt!" _I didn't ask questions. I pulled up the underarmour shirt, finding what looked like an insulin pump clipped to her pants. _"See the pump!?" _

"Yes"

"_Pull it off enough that you can see the clear tube underneath." _I did what I was told, unclipping the pump and pulling it down carefully. Under it was a tub leading into her lower abdomen. _"What colour is the tube?" _

"Pinkish-red."

"_Shit! This is why I didn't want her using it! Okay, slowly pull the tube out of her. Don't pull to fast! Right now the cure isn't going into her, her heart is beating too fast and it's just spreading the virus around quicker!"_

"I thought she _was_ cured!"

"_Now is not the time for questions, Nikita!" _I did what I had been told, slowly grasping the tube and pulling. About ten inches of small tubing later, it was out.

"Okay."

"_Strapped around her left thigh there is a kit, it should include three syringes and three bottles of clear liquid. Get to it." _I trailed my hand over her leg until I felt what had to be the kit under her pant leg. I grabbed the fabric roughly and tore it open. Sure enough, under the fabric lay a long, strip of wetsuit material.

"Stay with me Alex." I breathed, flipping open the flap. There lay three syringes and three bottles. "Alright! I found them!"

"_Good! Strip her shirt and flip her over!" _I pulled her up, yanking the shirt over her head.

"This is taking too long! She's not breathing, Katrina!" I snapped, feeling the pressure now.

"_If you don't do this she's dead anyway! The middle syringe! You need to slide that in between her vertebrae!" _I grabbed the syringe, carefully rolling her onto her front. _"There will be a red mark between her shoulder blades! Stick it in there!" _I swallowed and used my fingers to feel where the vertebrae connected. I slid it into her swiftly, feeling just a little sick knowing how much pain that would've caused her if she was conscious. I pressed down on the plunger until all the liquid was gone, then I pulled it out and tossed it off to the side somewhere.

"Now what?"

"_Roll her back over! You're going to need to inject the syringe on the right into her heart directly." _

"what exactly am I doing?!" I demanded as I rolled her over again. I fumbled for the syringe.

"_A concentrated dosage of the cure was contained in the centre syringe, the one you injected into her back. A more diluted dosage is in the one on the right. Her body hasn't gotten the cure, the increased heart rate from jumping out of the helicopter and into the pool is now killing her. Her body is shutting down." _

I brought the syringe up, ignoring the swift stab of fear that hit me. I drove it down into her heart and pressed down.

"_When she's breathing again, inject the third syringe into her heart; it'll jump start the spread of the cure." _I swung my leg back over her waist and continued trying to pump the water out of her lungs.

"Come on Alex!" I begged, blowing another lungful of air into her. "breathe, goddamn it!" I continued compressing for what felt like ages. My entire body was starting to cramp under the constant strain. She wasn't dead. I wouldn't let her be dead. I hadn't saved her all those times before for her to just roll over and die.

I sealed my lips over hers again when I felt movement. She coughed up water into my mouth and I in turn jerked back sputtering. She twisted under me and I gripped her head, turning it to the side so she'd expel the water she was vomiting away from herself. Her muscles contracted under me as she heaved in another breath before coughing it back out. I grabbed the syringe and drove in the same way I had the other one. She arched as I pressed down the plunger and pulled it out. "Okay, she's breathing."

"_Get her to safety. I've delayed the oncoming Division squad as long as I can. They're less than twenty minutes out. Trash this bud and don't try to contact me. Good luck, Nikita."_ I ripped the bud from my ear and smashed it on the ground. I looked at the girl under me, seemingly unconscious, and got off of her. She sprung forwards suddenly, surprising me. I pushed down on her shoulders, trying to get her to lay still. She slugged me across the face and threw herself against me again. I kept a firm grip on her arms. "Alex stop!" I yelled as she rolled us over again.

"Let go of me!" she straddled my body, fingers prying at mine. "What do you want?!" she demanded and I kicked against the ground, rolling us over, my legs on either side of her.

"We have to leave—"

"I hate you!" she screamed.

"Then why did you save me?!" I pushed against her shoulders again.

"I _hate you!" _she howled again, ignoring the question and pushing against me.

"Alex, listen-"

"Get off of me!"

"I'M SORRY!" I yelled so loud it hurt my throat. She stopped struggling and turned her head to the side, tears spilling out from under closed eyes. "I'm sorry." I whispered, hanging my head, releasing my hold on her. I gently grabbed her chin "look at me." I begged and she did what I asked, her blue eyes staring into mine. There was so much agony swirling there that it broke the pieces of my heart. "I'm so, so sorry Alex." She didn't say anything. I rolled off of her and laid on my back, staring up at the ceiling. Neither of us moved, we both just laid there, breathing heavy.

All of my emotions came pouring out like a dam had been opened inside of me. All the pain, the guilt, regret and hopelessness trickled from my eyes. It felt like an hour had passed before I felt her fingers gently slip into mine. I closed my eyes and swallowed, feeling the tears streaming down my face. "I'm sorry." I whispered again, not really directed at her. She didn't say anything. "We have to go, Alex." I whispered hoarsely. "Can you walk?" she shook her head, eyes squeezed shut as I pushed myself to me feet, legs shaking wearily.

I slid my arms under her limp body and lifted her, hurrying through the pool and into the lobby.

I shoved open the front door with my shoulder. I ran up to the pickup truck parked just a block away. I sat her down by the wheel before slamming my fist through the window, thanking god that older cars didn't have alarms, and popped open the lock before opening the door. I carefully lifted the girl up from the ground.

I grunted as I sat her in the passenger's seat and ran around to the front of the car. I reached under the steering wheel, waiting no time in ripping the wires out and hotwiring it. The engine roared to life and I threw it into gear. I floored it back to the safe house.

I kicked open the door to the house, storming in. The lights flicked on as the door hitting the wall woke everyone up. Everyone came out of their rooms, guns drawn, aimed for me. I stopped for a moment, completely drenched still, Alex unconscious, half naked and also soaking in my arms. "Nikita…" Michael began. My body was barely keeping itself upright. My legs gave out finally, sending us both to the floor. "Nikita!" Michael yelped, rushing to my side. But he was very far away. I felt him roll me onto my back. I stared up at the ceiling through burry eyes before the world faded away to dark oblivion.

+/+\+

I woke up with a killer headache. I pushed myself up off my bed. The smell of pizza filled the air. "Michael?" I croaked, swinging my legs out and standing up on incredibly sore legs. "Birkhoff?" I stumbled towards the door, pushing it open and leaning against the frame. I looked down, noticing I was dressed in jeans and a white tank top. Definitely _not _what I was wearing when I fell asleep. I looked up into the kitchen, finding Alex leaning against the counter, staring blankly at the oven. A frozen pizza box beside her, the defrosted and cooked pizza on her other side. There was a slice taken from the whole, sitting on a plate. She hadn't touched it. Her eyes were red, nose running just a little bit. She was wearing one of my sweaters, the sleeves bunched up in her hands. "Alex?" She jumped and looked at me, smoothing the sweater down.

"Hey." She whispered hoarsely.

"Hi."

"I hope you don't mind." She said, voice rough, looking down at my clothes she was wearing. "I woke up like this."

"It's fine. Where is everyone?" I asked, clearing my throat. She shrugged.

"Birkhoff left this note, says they all went out to give us time alone. I made pizza, but I'm not as hungry as I thought I was." She wiped her eyes. I nodded and looked at the ground. The awkward silence was all consuming. I staggered into the kitchen, using the counter to support myself. Alex's hand wrapped around my forearm, her other hand resting on my back. I looked at her, seeing the timid, innocent look on her face.

"I'll be okay." I assured her and she nodded, promptly pulling her hands away. "What about you?" She shook her head and wiped away a tear.

"I don't know. Everything hurts." I noted the kit on the island that I had used last night. She followed my gaze.

"What's that stuff? Katrina said something about the 'cure'?" She sniffled, leaning against the counter again.

"The, uh, the virus had mutated by the time I got the first cure back at Division when they stormed Vasily's house. There's no cure for it anymore." I looked at the circles around her eyes.

"Alex, I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I have to have injections twice a day, but I'm okay otherwise." Another long pause overcame us and she sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Thank you, Nikita." She said, looking me in the eyes. "for saving my life last night."

"I should be the one thanking you, Alex." I said, turning around stiffly. "If you hadn't fallen out of the sky like you had, I wouldn't be here right now." She smiled just slightly. "Where _did _you come from anyway?" She smiled wider.

"Kat was flying me over to the Gogol weapons cache when I heard a window break below us. I looked down, saw that guy push you through the skylight. I made Kat turn us around and I bailed out, praying to God I didn't miss the window or the pool." I stared at her, thoroughly impressed.

"You leapt out of a helicopter, through a skylight, and into the pool?"

"From thirty feet above the roof."

"Nice." We both laughed quietly. "who was he?"

"Sean Peirce." She said. "An Oversight guard dog." Another awkward silence. I sighed, walking stiffly over to her where she leaned against the counter. She looked away from my eyes.

"I meant what I said yesterday at the pool." I murmured and she kept her eyes away from my own. "I am sorry, Alex. For everything. I made a mistake in not trusting you to handle the truth. But, if you're willing to give me a second chance, I can make it up to you. I promise." She looked up at me and I wiped away the tear on her cheek.

"I know, Nikita. It just…" she trailed off, looking away from "it really hurt to think that you didn't trust me to handle it, especially after everything we've been through together." I nodded, looking down at my hands. Her arms wrapped around me. "I missed you." I smiled. She clung to me so tightly it hurt, but I didn't dare let her know that. It had been a long time since I knew she was safe. It had been a long time since I held her close to me and known she was okay. I pressed my lips to the top of her head gently, pulling my fingers through her hair. She wiped her eyes. "I can't stay though." She murmured as we parted. "I can't leave Kat and Alicia behind. Amanda is warping her mind; she's becoming more and more reliant on her and I don't know what will happen if I'm not there to try and put distance between both of them."

"Okay, Alex." I said softly. "Just do me one favour. Stay the day, just so I know you're definitely okay. I've missed you too." She hesitated before nodding.

"Okay. Just the day though." She glanced around me at the clock. "It's um, it's about time for my first injection." She looked at me and I nodded.

"Alright.

I waited for Alex on the bed like she told me to, the syringe filled to the amount she instructed. She came into the room a moment later, stripping the sweater from her torso. I patted my lap and she carefully laid across my thighs. "Ready?" I asked, pushing her hair away from the injection site. She nodded, crossing her arms over the pillow on my right and laying her head across them. I pulled the skin tight with my free hand and swiftly slipped the needle in. She gasped, finger twisting in my pant leg as I pressed the plunger down. I used my now free hand to grip hers. Her fingers crushed my own and I couldn't keep the grimace from my face.

She didn't move when I pulled the needle out, just stayed completely still. I didn't try to rush her. I figured it was better to wait until she moved on her own. I gently stroked her hair with my other hand, waiting for her to recover.

The door to the room opened, Birkhoff poking his head into my room and finding me sitting there with a half-naked Alex across my lap. "Oh, sorry. Am I interrupting something?" He teased. I rolled my eyes, reaching back and chucking a pillow at the door.

"Go away Birkhoff." Alex grumbled.

"Yup, looks like everything is back to normal." He shut the door before yelling "All clear, assassinators! Team Nalex is reunited!"

"I see he's still as obnoxious as ever." Alex muttered, eyes closed. I chuckled.

"You say that like you expected him to change."

"Not to change, but maybe stop being such an ass."

"Yeah, well, no luck in that department."

"Permission to kick his ass?"

"Granted."

We waited just a few more minutes before she got up and pulled her shirt over her head again. We walked out into the living area just as Gale pulled an arrow back on her bow and aimed it through the open door. "Bye bye, Percy." She let the arrow go, sending it shooting into the target still outside from last night. Alex paused in the doorway

"Officer Grant?" She squinted and Gale looked over at her.

"Hey, Alex." She drew another arrow and pulled it taught. "how are you since you whisked Alicia away from my home in the middle of the night?" she asked curtly as she let the arrow go, knocking the crate over. Alex winced.

"About that, I didn't mean to—"

"Don't worry about it." She said. "Water under the bridge and all that jazz."

"wait, when did you learn to shoot a bow?" the blonde rolled her eyes.

"need to know basis here, Alex." She murmured as Owen walked around the corner.

"Jesus, it's like a secret agent reunion." My protégé muttered.

"Welcome to my world." Birkhoff chimed around a mouthful of pizza. Alex looked at me, cocking an eyebrow before walking back into the kitchen. Birkhoff spread his arms for her and she shook her head before letting him hug her. "There's my little padawan, I like you a lot more when you're not all crazy and on the dark side of the force." He cooed to her exaggeratedly, shaking her back and forth. She pushed against his chest, trying to get free of the crushing hug.

Michael walked over to me. "So," he said as Alex struggled against Birkhoff's bear hug. "You got one back?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Sort of. She's not staying. She's worried about Kit and Alicia being left alone with Amanda. She wants to be there to keep everyone in check."

"Smart girl."

"Yeah."

"Still, it must feel good to have her here-"

"Get _off _of me_, _Birkhoff!"

"-Even if she does kill our tech." Michael said and I smiled as Alex pulled free of Nerd's grasp. Gale extended her arms towards the brunette. She willingly went into the blonde's embrace.

"Yeah." I murmured, feeling a smile creep across my face. "It does."

**YAY! HAPPY NIKITA AND ALEX TIMES! This happened a little sooner than I was planning, but **_**God **_**did I miss writing them together where they weren't trying to murder each other. I love me some Nalex huggies.**

**Did you hear? There's a special deal on for a 'Whack-an-author' baseball bat. For just a review or two you can own your own and smack down authors that don't review for a few months at a time! Get 'em before their gone!**


	7. A Promise

**CHAPTER SEVEN **

_**Alex**_

I walked into Division. The recruits stopped where they were and what they were doing to stare at me as I walked through the training room and towards Amanda's office. I kept my head high as I walked past everyone, their eyes following me. The black box in my back pocket seemed to be getting heavier and heavier.

I swiped it from her. When Nikita was still passed out from nearly drowning and the others had left, I snooped around. I found it in a safe hidden behind the book shelf in Birkhoff's room. It was a horrible thing to do and I couldn't honestly say I was proud or even okay with it, but I needed the black box. I needed it so I could have leverage over Amanda, so I could keep her from brain washing my cousin. I'd already begun to see differences in Kat's attitude. She was colder, less goofy and more serious. Every so often, I would catch that distant and calculating glint in her eyes that I had seen so many times before in Amanda's.

Having the black box in my possession might just be the rope I needed to put Amanda on a leash. I just had to burn any bridges I built with Nikita and the others in order to get it. Maybe she'd understand that I did what I did to keep Kat safe. Maybe she wouldn't.

It was too late to take it back now.

"Stuck up Princess." Jaden snarled as I walked by. I stopped, looking over at her where she was helping with a sparing lesson. She looked back at me.

"Can I help you, Jaden?" I demanded, arms crossed over my chest. She left the recruit she was assisting and walked over to me. She stood so that she was just an inch or two away from me, deliberately trying to instigate something.

"You heard me, Alexandra," she spat, eyeing me up and down. "I don't see why Amanda lets you stay down here. You were a traitor to Division the second you came here."

"And now I'm higher up the chain of authority than you are." I threw it back in her face. It wasn't exactly true; I didn't work for Division. I was a free-lance agent at that point. I worked for myself, for my own gain. But I knew it would ruffle her feathers. That was as good as gold right then.

"Which is complete crap and you know it, Udinov." She glared at me, her hostility coming off her in waves. It was driving her insane that I wasn't responding the same way she was. I remained completely composed, giving her nothing. "I've been here longer and I've worked harder. If anyone deserves to be above anyone else, I deserve to be above you."

"That's not how Amanda sees it. In fact, I don't have a superior at all. Unlike you, I don't report to anyone."

"You know what, Alex?" I heard her knuckles cracking as she clenched her fists.

"What, Jaden?"

"I think it's time I shut your stupid rich girl mouth." She swung at my head and I ducked it, grabbing her forearm and pulling her over my body, flipping her to the ground. She sprung to her feet again. She swung for my face and I deflected the punch. Her fist caught my stomach and my foot caught her in the shoulder, throwing her away from me.

"You're rusty, Jaden," I said as she staggered away from me "What? Haven't been put on many missions lately?"

"Other than the mission to kill your pathetic family..." If there was one thing Jaden shouldn't have said in that moment, that was it. I felt a hot flash of fury burn through me like a wildfire. "No, not really." I clenched my fists so tight my knuckles turned white. I tried to keep myself under control. Her eyes glanced down at my hands and she smirked. "What's the matter Alex? Hit a nerve?"

I charged her, ramming my forehead against hers before smashing my fist across her face. She threw her fist into my face and I drove my foot into her stomach, throwing her against the wall.

_I'm going to kill her. _I thought as she dodged a punch I threw. _I'm going to kill her and rip her apart. _She threw a punch and tried to dodged around me. I grabbed the back of her shirt and threw her against the wall again. She spun around, aiming her heel for my face. I caught it, twisting it hard enough and fast enough that it sent her to the ground face down. I kicked her hard in the ribs, flipping her over. I straddled her and drove my fist into her face again and again.

"That's enough!" a familiar voice commanded, catching the attention of everyone in the room. Amanda stood outside the window of the tech room, a stern look of disapproval on her face. My fist was pulled back, aiming to land another blow to break Jaden's nose. My other hand was twisted in the collar of her blouse. "Let go of her, Alex," Amanda ordered and I just looked back at the girl under me, her lip beginning to bleed. I let out a soft growl of frustration as I pulled on the collar of her shirt harder. "Alex! Release Jaden or I will have you forcibly removed." I let go of her shirt, straightening up slowly. Jaden pushed herself to her feet, brushing off her pants and straightening her blouse. "Follow me," she said, turning the corner.

"That's right, listen to your master," Jaden snapped. I glanced over my shoulder at the blood trickling from her lip.

"You got something on your face, Jaden," I muttered, following after Amanda. I walked into Amanda's office.

"Shut the door," She said and I obeyed. "I'm disappointed, Alex. I thought you would have more control than to play along with Jaden's games."

"She made a comment about the night your people stormed in and killed my uncle and nearly killed Kat." A shadow came over her usually placid expression. "_No one _says something like that to me and gets away with it." She stared at me for a brief moment.

"I understand your anger, Alex, believe me I do, but beating in the face of a fellow agent is not the way to go about it."

"_Fellow Agent?" _I scoffed. "Maybe you've forgotten, Amanda, but I don't work for Division. I am not your agent and I do not follow your orders. I don't know what mind games you've got going with Katrina to get her to see you as mother dearest," I said, staring the beast dead in the eyes. "But I'm not playing."

"My relationship with Katrina is none of your business, Alex," she said evenly, but the glint in her eyes sent a cold shiver down my spine. "Just as I'm not going to ask what happened last night when Sean Pierce was pulled from a swimming pool, his neck snapped after he went to try and stop Nikita. I'm also not going to ask how you managed to escape her and make your way back here. I expect you to respect Katrina's wishes. She is the one seeking me out, not the other way around."

I took a step forward. "You can be damn sure I'm going to make sure you can't warp her mind until she doesn't know which way is up. She's my blood" I said, meeting her gaze evenly. "She is an Udinov," I said in Russian to enforce my point. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the black box. Amanda's eyes latched onto it like a dog watching a bone.

"The black box."

"if you want this," I said "You will pull your claws out of my cousin and leave her alone." She stared at me, a blank expression on her face but the fires of hell burning in her eyes. I was giving her a choice I knew would tear her in two pieces. Her daughter or all of Percy's secrets.

"You honestly expect me to choose between my daughter and the black box?"

"I don't doubt in your own sick, twisted way you love Kat. But if there's one thing you want more than anything else in this world, it is every single one of Percy's dirty little secrets and operations."

"And what if Katrina were to seek me out, hm? What then? Are you expecting me to shut the door in her face?"

"I expect you to keep her at arm's length. I expect you to not welcome her into your web of lies that you call your 'life.'" Her expression didn't change. Instead, she opened up a file on her desk.

"Do you know what happens when someone or something gets between a mother bear and her cubs, Alex?" She asked. "If the mother bear see something threatening her child," she flipped a page "she attacks." She looked up at me. "I have spent seventeen long, long years without seeing my daughter. I did many horrible things to ensure she got out of Division and that Percy never knew she existed. I lost seventeen years of getting to know her, of watching her grow." She stood and I took a step back. "I will be damned if I lose any more because of your desperate attempt to hold on to your family."

"Then I guess you'll never get your talons on Percy's black box, now will you?" Her eyes bore into mine. "I'll tell you one more time: leave my cousin alone. She doesn't need you coming in to play mother dearest."

"Hey Amanda!" the door opened to Kat carrying three bags of fast food from different places, Alicia sat in the baby carrier on Kat's back, sucking on the head of some poor toy. I placed the black box on the desk, pulling papers over it and resting my hand on top. No way could I let Kat see, or Amanda swipe it when I wasn't paying attention. "I didn't know what kind of food you liked so I went to three different joints and grabbed each of their specials. I'm pretty much just okay with burgers so I grabbed myself two from the first place I went, but you can pick from either a Caesar salad wrap, a poutine, or—" she looked up and froze. "Oh. I didn't realize that you guys were in the middle of something. I just…Amanda and I had a lunch date thing and—I mean, Alex you're welcome to join us if that's okay with Amanda."

"No." Amanda said and Kat blinked.

"Wow, that was really blunt. Sorry, Al, I guess you'll have to—"

"You too, Katrina." She turned her gaze on her daughter. "Something's come up and I don't have time to sit down and have lunch."

"Oh, well, okay. Maybe I could save the food for later? We could make it dinner instead?"

"I don't think I'll have time for that either. My schedule's full." Kat paused, the look on her face a rosy mixture of confusion and embarrassment.

"But I thought…I thought you were going to tell me about the night I was born…I mean, that's the whole reason we were going to have this lunch thing. You said you were going to answer whatever questions I have."

"I know what I said." Kat swallowed hard, looking at the food in her arms.

"What am I supposed to do with all of this now?"

"Eat it. Throw it away. It makes no difference to me." she stared at Amanda for a moment, her face beet red. I kept quiet. Kat took a few steps towards the door before dropping the food in the garbage, muttering something about not being hungry anymore. She left and there was a moment of absolute quiet before Amanda's eyes turned on me.

"Does this mean we have a deal?" I said barely above a whisper.

"you're truly willing to put your own cousin through this?"

"If it means keeping her safe, yes."

"Fine, Alex." She said dismissively, sitting down again. I could tell she didn't take me seriously. "The reason I called you in here wasn't because of that little scuffle you had with Jaden. I need you to talk to Percy."

"What about?"

"About where his next largest sum of money is stashed. Division is getting robbed blind and he's the only one who knows where he put everything."

"Fine." I snapped, turning on my heel, slipping the black box back in my pocket.

"Watch yourself, Alex." She cautioned as I almost reached the door. "You have very few friends left and I suggest you don't bite the hand that feeds you."

The elevator seemed to be moving slower than usual as I descended down the silo. I could still feel the anger bubbling in my chest, pumping adrenaline through my body. I slammed my hand on the guardrail, trying to unwind before I went to go see one of the master manipulators. The lift reached the bottom before I was ready and I took a breath before approaching the glass box where the man I hated more than anyone or anything was being contained.

"Alexandra," he said, standing up from the bed. "what a pleasant surprise. It's been a while since I've had a visitor."

"With good reason," I said, walking around the platform.

"How are you?"

"I'm not here for small talk, Percy." I stopped on the opposite end of his pen.

"Come now Alex, it's rude not to ask someone how they are." He crossed his arms over his chest. "But I can see that you're not doing so well."

"Amanda wants to know where you next largest stash of money is."

"What is it, Alex?" he asked, ignoring my statement. "What has you so wound up?"

"You don't get to ask me questions like that, you sick, diluted son of a bitch. Tell me where the money is and I leave you here to rot in peace." He chuckled at the brashness of my tone. He sat back down on the bed, looking me in the eyes.

"That's what I thought."

"What are you talking about?"

"I knew there was something about you, Alexandra, the second I saw you. You have that…edge I've only seen once before. That anger, that burning fury that drives you. It's what makes you such a good agent. Or should I say 'made' you a good agent. Just like Nikita."

"Do not compare me to Nikita." I snarled. I know I had made nice with her hours before, I know I had said that I missed her and all that other crap. But right then, the mere sight of Percy and hearing him compare me to her made my skin itch and blood boil. "I am _nothing _like her."

"That is both right and wrong. You aren't as lost as she was. But you've still got that kind of...darkness inside of you." I rolled my eyes.

"Screw you Percy. If you think saying that is going to get inside my head, you've got another thing coming."

"you can act like I'm just trying to get in your head, Alex, but what do you think kept you alive in those brothels? What kept you going _after _those brothels?" I just glared at him as he stood up and walked towards the glass. I didn't answer him. "An experience like that, it can only have two effects on a person; they crumble and submit to the pain, or they find a new level buried in hatred and rage and they fight back. You fought back Alex. You dug through the embers of your old life and you found yourself a gun. You're a survivor, beating the odds is what you do, but you also lost a part of yourself in those years."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"It's undeniable. No triumph is made without sacrifice. Nothing is won without something being lost."

"You don't know me, Percy, stop pretending you do. Just tell me where the next stash is."

"I can see it in your eyes, Alex," he said, so intense I forgot for a moment that the glass was even between us. "I can see the same cold fire that Nikita showed me. That hell you were in is still inside of you and whether you like it or not you feed off of it. You both do."

"Stop."

"You're just afraid to face it because you know it's there. You know what you're capable of and it scares you."

"Shut up."

"You're afraid that the line you've set for yourself, the line that you told yourself is the one place you cannot cross into, is starting to blur. I can see it burning in you Alex. I can feel it!"

I brought my hand back and smacked it against the glass so hard my palm stung. He righted himself, looking down his nose at me as I glared daggers at him, struggling to control myself. "It's in a bunker below the casino near the river on the outer limits of the city." He said before turning around and heading back towards his bed. "Good luck, Alexandra."

I stood there just a moment longer before spinning on my heel and storming back towards the elevator.

I stalked towards Amanda's office to relay the information, my skin still prickling. "Hey! Alex!" an especially aggravating voice called from behind me in the hallway. I turned just in time to catch an elbow to the jaw. I stumbled back into the wall, catching myself just before I fell over. I turned again, this time managing to dodged the fist hurtling towards my nose. I shoved Jaden back to the other side of the hall. She glared at me, disgust glinting in her eyes. "No one humiliates me and gets away with it!"

"If I remember correctly, Jaden, you're the one who picked a fight with me. You brought it on yourself."

"Yeah, well, lets see how tough you are without Amanda around." I looked at her for a moment longer and then shook my head, ignoring the way my jaw ached and head throbbed.

"I don't have time for your petty fights, Jaden. I have things to do." I continued down the hall, we'll aware of the tapping of shoes following me.

"You think you're hot shit because you're above the law of Division, don't you?"

"I'm just here to get what I want from Amanda and then I'll leave and you'll never see me again."

"Bullshit. You privileged girls always want more than what you need. You're here for something other than getting your precious empire back. You and your cousins are up to something."

"You're paranoid. Trust me, we don't like being here either. The sooner we can leave the better." her foot steps stopped

" Yeah, the sooner you can get back to you're..._partner _in crime." I stopped for a moment at the tone of her voice before turning around and looking at her.

"What was that?"

She smirked.

"You heard me. It's not as if it's some big secret. Everyone knows about your...special relationship with your renegade mentor."

I huffed a laugh.

"Seriously, Jaden? What, are we in high school? You think that something like that will get me all riled up?" I shook my head. "When you figure out how to pull on your big girl panties, come find me again." I walked away from her but I could feel her eyes burning a hole into the back of my head.

+/+\+

"Kit, I'm back!" I called into the studio, putting my keys on the counter. I bounced Alicia in my arms as she grumbled. There was no response. My brows furrowed. I took a few more steps in, glancing around. "I brought food! Those disgusting frozen TV dinner trays you like." Nothing. I set the bags down, pulling the black box from the inside pocket of my trench coat and locking it in one of the drawers of the island. My phone vibrated in my pocket. I checked it to find a text from Kit:

_Staying late to work on your pump. I'll be back in time to jam a needle into your back._

I sighed and looked at my cousin. "Looks like it's just me and you kiddo." She grabbed my nose and giggled.

I sat on the floor, the toddler in my lap. I chewed absently on the tough, unknown meat substance as Alicia drank from her sippy cup. I was so tired. This fight was taking more out of me than I wanted to admit. It felt like everywhere I turned there was a fight waiting for me and even if I won, I felt control spiralling out of reach. I closed my eyes and drew in a slow breath as Alicia scrambled off my lap. Maybe I shouldn't have taken the box. At least then I could have enlisted Nikita's help. But, like I said, it was too late to take it back. Besides, I had Amanda on the run. I was the one with the power, even if it didn't feel like it.

Just as I was beginning to nod off, the sharp crack of the plastic cup hitting the ground jolted me awake. I opened my eyes as Apple juice splashed all over Alicia and me. The baby gave a wail of surprise at the same time I did. With a groan, I shoved myself to my feet and padded begrudgingly through the puddle and scooped her from the ground. I walked into the bathroom and turned on the tap in the bath tub. I leaned against the sink, watching the water rise. Alicia clapped together her sticky hands before smacking me in the same spot Jaden had hit me. I reeled away from the touch as the pain came springing back to life. "Alicia!" I grabbed her hand, "no hitting! Hitting is bad, okay?" she stared at me blankly. Though I doubted she was actually thinking it, her eyes asked: then why do you do it?

I looked away from her probing eyes and turned off the water. I stripped her of her damp clothes and lowered her into the tub. She let out a joyful squeal and I looked at myself in the mirror. The bruise was worse than I thought. It looked like a dramatic shadow on the corner point of my jaw, extending under my chin and pooling there. Maybe a bit swollen. I opened and shut my mouth, testing how bad it was. Didn't hurt too much, I guessed that was a good thing. I sat by the tub, helping to rinse Alicia's skin as she splashed around.

" Look at you," I whispered to her in Russian as she grabbed my hand and rubbed her face against the back of it "you're so beautiful." She gave a particularly sharp tug. "And strong. If you're anything like Kat, I'm sure you're smart as well." With my free hand I scooped water and poured it over her head, smoothing my palm over her light coloured hair. She responded differently when people spoke to her in Russian as opposed to just English. Maybe it was because of Vasily and how he used to sing her to sleep. Maybe it was because she didn't understand. But Russian had always given me a weird sense of comfort. I hoped it would do the same for the blissfully ignorant baby. "I don't want you to worry, okay?" I continued in my native tongue, "because your sister and I are going to make things right for you. We're going to make sure you get a really good education so that you can be a doctor or a lawyer or a business woman." I wiped her skin with a soapy wash cloth, watching that she didn't put it in her mouth. "We're going to make sure you get to have a good, normal, safe life. That way, you won't ever have to shoot a gun or hurt anyone. And you'll be able to meet someone and have an honest relationship and have a family with them." I plucked her from the water, wrapping her in a towel. I dried her off carefully, supporting her when she started to dose off. I wrapped her up again and held her close. "I promise."

**So, hi. I really have no excuse as to why I was gone so long. I've got a lot of family stuff going on and I kind of lost my muse for writing. But I finally got back to it and here you go.**

**No guarantee as to how frequent I'll be. Life's kind of crazy right now.**

**In celebration of my return, only the finest of reviews are welcome in my temple. Or just reviews in general. I'm really not that picky. It just sounds more majestic with 'finest' slapped in front.**


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